It’s Christmas-Eve Eve! Time isn’t slowing down. I’ve started to do flash-back for the past year, making notes on next year plan be it personal or business. Well, put that aside, I have other thought to ponder on. No, not related to st lucia weddings or honeymoon, but more to milestone.

Recently I’m in getting in touch with an ex-colleague and he’s just graduated, going to pursue his dream job. *gasp* This means it’s been 4 years since I resigned from my first and only job (as an employee). Saying that time flies is an understatement!

In other words, I’ve been self-employed for that long as well. From a freelance graphic designer to clueless web-designer wannabe to who I am now (no exact description ).

It’s a roller-coaster ride, there are times when we’re on top of the world *woohoo* and there were shitty times as well. Nothing’s stagnant. Always revolving and moving, it’s internet and web that we’re talking about after all.

Aside from the personal growth, what I love best from self-employment is the FREEDOM that it gives.

Quoted from the recent article of Corbett Barr, titled Cash Rich.. Lifestyle Poor -> “Money is nice, but freedom is priceless“.

Freedom to work on projects that I like and say no to the one that doesn’t fit us. Freedom to work anytime anywhere, although we have a certain working hour for ourselves. Freedom to take a break when the brain stuck instead of keep on sitting at the cubicle until the end of office hour.

We get to go for grocery shopping at wet market on Monday morning. We get to cook at home which leads to more saving. We get to spend more time with our parents when they came here for a visit, instead of just dinner at night. I get to work til midnight without worrying that it’s so late & will be dangerous to go home alone. I get to sleep in a little longer when it’s raining in the morning, just need to replace the working hour. We don’t need to face awful traffic jam everyday.

With the freedom, we get to create moment and experience more stuffs in our life, which lead to stories that we can pass on to our grandchildren in the future. Ok, where does this topic going to?

Bottom line, I find myself complaining less than when I was an employee. Instead of complaining about how the office politic is, we spend our coffee time brainstorming how to improve the business, what new venture to work on, new things in the industry, etc. Using the brain for good use.

Cheers to the FREEDOM that we have~!

This post is inspired by ruangfreelance’s tweet on #DollarPertamaGue, literally means my first dollar (USD).

Mine was from pay per p0st thing back in 2007. Can’t really remember the amount, but it should be around $10ish only. Small amount but it’s enough to motivate me. Cause my vision back then was to quit my full-time job and work from home with the help of internet, so that after married I can be a stay-at-home-wife/mum and still contribute to pay the house bill and do credit report. Long term thinking/early planning or rather think too much, that’s me.

Fun fact: When I handed my resignation letter (my first ever job) in late 2007, the Boss asked what I’m gonna do next (as in what kind of job/field)? My answer: from blogging, the earning is about the same with my current salary. Sound silly, but well it’s an honest answer as I didn’t find any new job yet.

He definitely looked down on my decision, but heck. I earned peanut from that job and didn’t get any experience as I expected – see, I was already an idealist! So how can that job be any better than blogging, I thought? Plus with blogging I have time flexibility (which LDR-er needs), not the fixed 9 to 5 and 12 days leave in a year. Not a bad choice until I figured out what I wanted to do next.

Life post quitting from work wasn’t easy. Many pressure came in. But, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Who would know through my first dollar I was motivated to learn, discover, implement and accomplish my vision to work from home. Four years later which is now, I’m still earning dollar, not from blogging but web design with majority of clients find us from the internet.

One person to thank for, my dearest husband who opened the internet gate to me, as in the possibility and opportunity of world wide web. And, who would know that we will team up to run a web design business.

I am so thankful for all this! Now with two months left in this year, the two of us are working hard so we can launch our *new* personal project asap! Just need to gather commitment + passion + energy.

Funny how I seems to be so much diligent in blogging nowadays. No fail of having one post per day since last Saturday. Pat my own back first and let’s cherish on it while it last.

I believe once I’m back to the hustle bustle city, I’ll neglect this space again.

There is so many thing to do when you stay on your own, which is more important than blogging, such as laundry, ironing, boil water make sure all the water bottles are full, cooking, organize stuffs, have a walk in the garden to refresh mind, etc. Not complaining though.

Back in my in law place, they have a domestic helper so I basically just work, eat, sleep. Not fun. But it allows me and hubby to concentrate more on work, which is good. On the down side, we don’t have a proper work station. Have a full energy but the environment doesn’t support us, hate it!

Anyway, I do hope to have energy to stick with my goal, like SP from DevPress with his 32-day-design-challenge. Basically one theme design per day (not coding). I can hardly stick with 1 theme per month, mostly focus on clients’ project.

Speaking of which, my 30 Days Challenge of Making Things Happen doesn’t work really well. Sigh.

Must. stay. to. the. goal. now!

Title sounds like I’m living a tai-tai life, glamorous eh? I wish. But hold on.

It’s free entrance. Courtesy of the big G a.k.a Google. Heh, lucky I spot on their annual event and registered the two of us under our business name.

I heard that it’s an annual event – G0 Measure with G00gle Analytics. The event’s name is so inviting and it’s held at Hilton KL, definitely not to be missed. After all, we’re doing online business and we built websites for clients, knowing more about G00gle Analytics will be a bonus.

It’s an afternoon event, from 2pm – 6.20pm. By far, this is my most favorite talk ever. Many speakers with limited presentation time – around 10 minutes for each person, but their talk are very straightforward and insightful. Unlike WordCamp MY/ID, where it’s mostly about networking not much to gain knowledge and insight.

I think this event is actually targeting to the big companies. Saw a few representative from local telco companies, online directory, etc. And I just knew about GACP – G00gle Analytics Certified Partner; the to-go-man (trusted expert) when you need to optimize your business site.

At the end of the day, we not only gain knowledge but also free notebook + pen upon registration and free meal – 3 times, upon registration, tea break and after the event (yummy mini cakes!)

If you haven’t play around with the new G00gle Analytics, what you waiting for? Lots of hidden gem there. Will update this post with their presentation slider once they are shared online.

It’s a long public holiday (full one week) here in Malaysia due to Eid Mubarak, so we took three days off to the beach. I learn the art of doing nothing during vacation, which is just to eat, relax, and enjoy the sea breeze. No work related stuff.

Anyway, we’re back yesterday. I bring a gift (read: scar) on my face, accidentally scrub the sand on my dearest face. It’s a one dramatic moment once I landed my face on the sand. But, all is well. Lucky I brought Betadine along out of so many medicine, cause I know the chance of me hurting myself at an outdoor activity is pretty high.

Overall is a great experience and simply enjoyable to be away from metal buildings & hustle bustle city, except that I don’t like the resort very much. Old, worn out, not enough caring, more on this on the next post.

After we’re home, we went to IKEA and grab different chairs for the two of us. Previous office chair’s wheel is broken down and due to whatever reason I used our dining chair temporarily + turquoise-dot-pattern-chair-pad from Daiso.

Now I can have a fully-functioned office chair! Can lay my head on the back whenever I’m tired. Happy yeayayay.. But not sure how friendly the material is with the hot weather. I’m worry that my butt will sweat like no tomorrow.

Happy Friday, peeps~!